Crossroads: Our Guide

Psalm 48

My Story

We recently finished Everest VBS. As the leader of Base Camp Sing and Play as well as Summit Celebration, I was known as a Sherpa. A Sherpa is an expert guide on Mount Everest whose job it is to guide climbers safely up and back down Everest. As the Everest VBS Sherpa, it was my job to guide everyone through each part of our assembly time: the skits each day, the singing, the taking of the offering, and making sure everyone got where they needed to go for their first station. Each day the kids had a blast and got where they needed to go, so I’m going to say that my time as a Sherpa was a success.

Perhaps you have been a guide before and were in charge of helping others find the way. Or perhaps you have followed a guide, be it a person, a map, or even a book. Throughout our lives, we find ourselves needing guides in certain places to help us through. Psalm 48 reminds us of our most valuable guide, our Lord.

Your Story

Have you been a guide before? If so, tell a brief story about what it was like helping others find the way. Was it easy to communicate where it was? Did they find the way quickly or did they need extra help? Did you feel like you were successful being a guide? If you haven’t been a guide, talk about a time when you have followed a guide, be it a person, a map, or a guidebook. Was it easy to follow the directions? Were you able to trust that your guide knew the way?

The Bible Story

Read Psalm 48 with your family. From The Message: “God majestic, praise abounds in our God-city! His sacred mountain, breathtaking in its heights—earth’s joy. Zion Mountain looms in the North, city of the world-King. God in his citadel peaks impregnable. The kings got together, they united and came. They took one look and shook their heads, they scattered and ran away. They doubled up in pain like a woman having a baby. You smashed the ships of Tarshish with a storm out of the East. We heard about it, then we saw it with our eyes—In God’s city of Angel Armies, in the city our God Set on firm foundations, firm forever. We pondered your love-in-action, God, waiting in your temple: Your name, God, evokes a train of Hallelujahs wherever It is spoken, near and far; your arms are heaped with goodness-in-action. Be glad, Zion Mountain; Dance, Judah’s daughters! He does what he said he’d do! Circle Zion, take her measure, count her fortress peaks, Gaze long at her sloping bulwark, climb her citadel heights—Then you can tell the next generation detail by detail the story of God, Our God forever, who guides us till the end of time.”

Reread the last verse: “Our God forever, who guides us till the end of time” (verse 14). God is not only our God forever, but He is also our guide forever. God didn’t create us and then leave us here, not knowing what to do. Instead, God is like a parent, showing us the right way to go and the right thing to do. We can choose to ignore God’s guidance, of course, just like you can choose to ignore what your parents say to do. But we miss out on so much when we don’t do what God wants us to do. Just like you get in trouble when you ignore what your parents say to do, there are consequences we face when we ignore God’s guidance. We may not get in trouble, but things may happen that aren’t as good as what God wanted for us. Or we may begin to choose the wrong thing if we ignore God’s guidance and, in doing so, we might hurt ourselves and someone else. If we listen, though, God can do amazing things through us. God can guide us through doing things that we could never do on our own.

God’s guidance isn’t limited to Him speaking to us, though. Sometimes it seems as if God is silent when we need Him to be our guide. But God hasn’t left us alone. He has also given us a guidebook, the Bible. The Bible is filled with stories of how people heard from God and followed Him, as well as people who ignored what God said to do. In its pages we can find truths about who God is and how much He loves His people. While we will not always discover answers to everything in the Bible, the Bible does help us know who God is and how He wants us to live.

Discussion

• Ask your children about how God has guided them in their lives. Was there a certain time when they felt like God was telling them to do something? Did they listen to God? Why or why not? What happened afterwards?
• Talk about ways that God is our guide through life. Talk about ways to listen to God more as your guide.

Prayer

Thank God that He is always there and always willing to guide. Ask God for guidance in a situation specific to your own family.

Jessica Asbell is currently serving as the Minister to Children at First Baptist Church of Roswell, GA. She has worked with children in various capacities at several churches, including Winter Park Baptist in Wilmington, NC, First Baptist of Decatur, GA, and Highland Hills Baptist in Macon, GA. She has a Master of Divinity from McAfee School of Theology and a BBA from Mercer University. In her spare time she loves to read, watch movies, and of course spend time with her sweet kitty, Lucy.

Why is Coracle the name of our blog?

A coracle is a small, round boat. It looks like something out of a movie about hobbits. In centuries past, Celtic Christian pilgrims would set out on the ocean in such boats, journeying where God would take them.